Spurrier star of show at SEC Media Days

HOOVER, Ala. -- South Carolina football coach Steve Spurrier attended Southeastern Conference Media Days for the 22nd time Tuesday.

He has been the star of the show at most of them, and this time was no different.

Spurrier spoke for 30 minutes on a variety of subjects, ranging from South Carolina's quarterback situation to Alabama football coach Nick Saban's recruiting prowess to Davy Crockett.

When asked about South Carolina's season-opening game against Texas A&M and the fact the teams will play for the Alamo Trophy, Spurrier answered as only he could.

"I'm actually from Tennessee," Spurrier said. "I was always taught the hero of the Alamo was Davy Crockett, so this was a new one on me. I'm sure Bonham did some good things, but I always thought Davy Crockett was the hero of the Alamo, he and those 33 Tennessee guys that came in there and got killed and so forth."

With that, Steve Spurrier was officially in control of the room.

Spurrier also was asked about Saban. Earlier this summer, Spurrier made headlines when he said Saban had underachieved in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, despite the Crimson Tide's three national titles since 2009.

On Tuesday, he didn't go out of his way to clear things up.

"I just made a statement that I think they've had five No. 1 recruiting classes out of the last six years, which has got to make him the greatest recruiter in the history of college football," Spurrier said. "Arguably, they've got the greatest collection of college football players ever assembled for a college team."

Moving on

Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin made it clear he didn't want to talk about the Aggies' quarterback situation, opening his address by saying, "I'm not ready to name a quarterback, so we can avoid those questions."

He didn't want to talk about Texas A&M's former quarterback, either.

When questioning ensued, the first query was about current Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel, who played two season in College Station, Texas.

Sumlin wasn't amused.

"Is that really your question?" Sumlin said. "What's it like not to coach Johnny Manziel?"

Sumlin would be asked about the Heisman Trophy winner three times, and he eventually broke into laughter.

"I thought this was SEC Media Days," Sumlin said.

Early signing soon?

One of the dominant topics at the SEC's spring meetings in Destin, Florida, was the conversation of an early signing day for high school prospects. Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen was asked about an early signing day Tuesday.

"I think the early signing is coming," Mullen said. "There's going to be an early signing period in the near future. Everybody's looking and discussing what's best for the players, what's best for the coaches in every aspect of it."